Wrocław with the Kids

Wrocław might just be one of the best cities for toting your little ones around without boring them to tears - that’s because the city is filled with little people of its own, in the form of ubiquitous, sometimes challenging-to-spot gnomes, a veritable army of over 300. Trust us on this: gnome spotting is an IYP-certified way to keep kids entertained as you do your yawn-worthy adult sightseeing thing. Other Old Town highlights for your kids might be the panoramic view points atop the tower of St. Elizabeth’s Church and the open-air Penitents’ Bridge of St. Mary Magdalene’s Church, barring - of course - that your kids (or you) have a debilitating fear of heights; keep in mind that you’ll have to scamper up a couple hundred stairs to get to either, so your kid either needs to be light enough for you to carry without throwing your back out (but hey, it’s good cardio), or energetic enough to make it up there without outsourcing legwork to you. For a less medieval experience, choose the 49th-floor viewing platform in Sky Tower, where a zippy elevator makes it all simple.

If the temperatures soar and your family threatens to combust, Wroc has a couple good places for splashing around, and even if the skies open up with torrential rain, the historical Municipal Swimming Pools (worth seeing for the interior decor alone) and the Aquapark - one of the country’s finest - remain open. Keeping with the water theme, the ‘city of one hundred bridges’ also has plenty of opportunities for paddling around its numerous waterways, or letting yourself be ferried around onboard an excursion boat. Meanwhile, the award for most kid-friendly museum would probably go to Hydropolis, a new discovery centre dedicated to, well, water.

But that’s certainly not all - Wrocław has an entire lineup of places made specifically with children in mind, from elaborate playgrounds to educational centres and a vintage-style carousel: we list those below.